


5 Word Prompts

by Ismira_Daugene



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Death, Evil Jareth, Five word prompts, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Sappy Ending, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:24:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7995211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ismira_Daugene/pseuds/Ismira_Daugene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This will be a series of short stand-alone fics based off of a list of 5 word prompts I found on tumblr. Each prompt will be listed at the top and followed by a 2k or less chapter based on that prompt. There will be romance, drama, mystery, evil Jareth, evil Sarah, and many other tropes and possibly a few AUs!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prompt #78 "Sometimes, I wish you died."

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to a new adventure of mine! This is going to be a series of one-shots based off of a tumblr post I found with 5 word prompts. Each chapter will be a stand-alone based off of one of the prompts. I don't know if I'll do all of them (there's 97 of them), but I have a ton of ideas for several of them! I'll post triggers and warnings at the top of ones that need it, and not all of them will be as dark as this first one is. With that being said, I hope you enjoy these!
> 
> The list of prompts, in case you're interested, can be found here: [link](http://sweetlyobservantoblivion.tumblr.com/post/150144613801/five-word-prompts)

***Tags: Evil Jareth, Slave Sarah, Trauma, Description of Traumatic Events**

Sarah shifted her legs slightly as she knelt on the rug beside his chair. The dress she wore shifted with her, and she reached to untangle it from her legs to make it more comfortable. It was a simple dress. All of her dresses were simple to show her status beneath him. Today's was a long white chemise with a blue over-skirt parted at the front and a simple brown waist cincher. The waist cinchers had taken some getting used to, and she'd tried to rebel, but he wouldn't have any of that. She'd learned quickly not to anger him. He never hurt her… physically. However threats to her family, long periods of time spent in dark oubliettes, and dark nights filled with nightmares he'd sent her were enough to convince her to behave.

She breathed out a sigh with her eyes closed as she refrained from shivering at the memory of the last nightmares he'd sent her when she'd last misbehaved. The nightmare had started nice with her back home in her parents' house. However it had taken a dark turn when the house had caught fire and suddenly was engulfed in flames. The nightmare led her through the house, smoke filling her lungs and making her eyes sting. She could hear her parents yelling for help and Toby crying in his crib in their room. She tried… she tried so hard to get to them, but the fire wouldn't let her. She woke up trembling and crying as their dying screams faded.

His hand on her head, gently smoothing her hair, startled her to the present. She jerked and looked up at him. His crystalline blue eyes examined her with what appeared to be concern. "Are you well, dearest?" the Goblin King asked. "You seemed far away just now."

Sarah took in a long breath and let it back out before answering. "Yes, I'm fine, Jareth."

His hand gently smoothed down her head and came to rest on the collar covering her neck. It was a well-made black leather affair with the symbol of his office wrought from silver fixed to the front. There was no clasp or buckle as he'd put it on her using magic, so there was no way to remove it herself aside from trying to cut it off, and she shuddered to think what he'd do if she managed to do that. His fingers slid along the edge of the collar, skimming the sensitive skin there. "Tell me what you're thinking, precious," he said softly, leaning back in his chair and pulling his hand back to himself.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked, timidly turning to face him.

He nodded, his blond hair swaying with the motion. "I will never hurt you for your honesty, pet," he replied.

She debated for a moment before finally deciding to be truthful. "Sometimes, I wish you died," she murmured. "Back during our final encounter when I ran the Labyrinth." She should stop. She knew she should, but she kept going. "When the room crumbled and I fell… I thought for sure you were gone."

He was quiet for a long time when she'd finished, and she was afraid to look up and see his anger so she kept her head low. When his hand touched her cheek, she jerked again. However it was gentle as it raised her face so she could see the smirk on his lips.

"I'm not that easy to get rid of, pet," he declared quietly. "But you know that now, don't you?"

Her mind flashed back to the few times she'd tried to kill him back when he'd first taken her. She'd tried poisoning first as it seemed the simplest. She'd received a week in the oubliette for that while he recovered. Her second attempt had taken a few months of planning, but eventually she'd acquired an iron dagger that she hid in her boot. She'd struck when she'd thought him asleep. The dagger sunk into his chest and blood blossomed forth covering her hands. However he'd merely sat up, pulled the dagger from his breast, and handed it back to her before healing himself with a wave his hand. That was when she'd learned that the myths about fae being deathly allergic to iron were false, and it had been the first time he'd threatened her family.

Back in the present, Sarah couldn't hang her head to get away from his smirk. Instead she was forced to look into his eyes as she said, "Yes, sir."

Long gloved fingers squeezed her jaw slightly as he considered her. "As I said, I will not punish you for telling me the truth," he stated. "But we will have to work on your appreciation of my hospitality, won't we?"

She wanted to shout and rail at him! What hospitality?! He'd stolen her away mere weeks after her defeat of his Labyrinth. Some claim that she'd eaten fae food and could no longer live in the mortal realm. He'd said he was doing her a favor taking her in. He'd said she should be grateful. She controlled her emotions though, and calmly replied, "Yes, sir."

He smiled at her again and stroked her head. "That's a good girl. Now why don't we have some lunch?" He stood and tugged on the delicate silver chain connected to her collar. She rose with him and meekly followed him to the dining room for lunch.


	2. Anything, just call me, okay?

"Mom, I'm fine," Sarah said, her cellphone tucked between her shoulder and cheek as she folded laundry. "I've just been really busy."

"Sarah, you're overworking yourself! You need a vacation!"

Sarah rolled her eyes, which was kind of pointless because her mother couldn't actually see her, but it was an instinctual reaction to her mother's drama. "The semester just started. Things are always crazy when a semester starts. It will calm down a bit and then I'll come see you for a weekend, okay?"

The line was silent for a moment as Sarah folded and her mother thought things over. However Linda Williams broke the silence by saying, "Sarah, you know you can call me anytime right?"

Sarah paused in the middle of folding a t-shirt. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I know, mom."

"I've just been worried about you lately. You've been distant… more than usual."

Sarah knew why she'd been distant… more than usual. It was because the fifth anniversary of her run through the Labyrinth was today, and she always grew melancholy when it was near. She'd remember the friends she made and the challenge of making it through the constantly changing paths. At the time it had been unfair and exhausting, but now she looked back on that time fondly as it was a marked point in her life when she could see the change that happened in herself afterwards.

It was also the time when she'd met _him_. It had been five long years, and her thoughts still drifted back to him on long nights when she couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure why he still consumed her thoughts now. It wasn't lust. It wasn't love. For Sarah, the Goblin King was an ethereal being that she couldn't get out of her head. It was kind of like when you got a song stuck in your head for weeks on end. Only this one was lasting for years. She could still hear his voice echoing in the strange Escher room. She could still remember the soul-splitting gaze he'd cast her way during their dance together. Whenever she stopped to relax for a moment, whenever she was alone and not really doing anything in particular… her thoughts would inevitably turn to him.

"Sarah?" her mother broke her thoughts.

"Yeah, mom?"

"You will come visit soon, right? I just have this feeling… sorry, forgive me. It's just some silly gut feeling."

"Yes mom," Sarah replied, knowing that gut feeling all too well. "I will come visit next weekend, how's that?"

Linda's voice perked up. "That would be great actually! Jeremy will be out of town for most of the weekend so we can have a mother/daughter night! I'll put on The Breakfast Club and we'll make up some popcorn and order in Chinese."

"That sounds great, mom," Sarah smiled.

"In the meantime, I love to hear from you whenever you have a chance, dear."

"I know, mom."

"I mean it. Anything, just call me, okay?"

"Okay, I will."

"Love you, Sarah."

"Love you too, mom," Sarah smiled as she hung up the phone.

She tossed it on her bed and went back to folding. However an icy shiver ran up her spine, and she sucked in a sharp breath. The air had suddenly turned cold and there was a static charge caressing her bare arms. Sarah slowly turned around, unfolded t-shirt still clenched in her fists tightly. A very familiar man stood behind her, leaning against her desk. A smirk crossed his features and his eyes traveled up and down her body.

"Hello, Sarah," he said quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was fun! And took entirely too long to write for only 600 words! I'm just going to answer the questions you're going to ask now. No there will not be a sequel. Yes I wanted it to end on a cliff-hanger. Yes I'll be writing more for these prompts. No I'm still not sure when my Sarah/Jareth Omega 'verse story will come off of hiatus.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Love you all!
> 
> ID


	3. Just... come back alive, okay?

#48 "Just… come back alive, okay?"

"TAKE COVER!"

Sarah dove for the rocky outcropping, breaths coming in sharp pants and sweat dripping into her eyes. Her friend Lena was already there, gripping her rifle tightly causing her knuckles to turn white. "This wasn't supposed to be an active zone," Lena said, a small nervous flutter of a laugh at the end.

"You know how it is," Sara replied, re-adjusting her medic bag. "It's not like the insurgents drop us a line letting us know where they'll be."

Lena closed her eyes and chuckled. "How rude," she joked turning to look at her friend.

Sarah grinned and nodded. However their moment was cut short as another explosion sounded. Dirt flew over the outcropping, and several screams could be heard. Sarah made to dart out, her med bag in hand already, but Lena grabbed the back of her shirt just in time as several gunshots rang out. "They always rush in afterwards," she said simply.

"I need to help them, Lena."

"You'll get yourself killed, Sarah," Lena argued. "Who's going to help us then?"

"Lena, it doesn't work like that. I can still save them if I go now."

Lena frowned, but let go of her friend's shirt. The woman nodded, but didn't look happy about it. A fact that Sarah understood all too well. They'd all lost friends. Everyone had lost someone they knew out here. It was just a fact of life when you were in the army. Sometimes those friends were lucky and lived to be sent home with an honorable discharge. Sometimes they weren't. However both women knew that it was Sarah's job to make sure none of that happened.

Lena gripped her rifle tighter and nodded. "Just… come back alive, okay?"

Sarah smiled and grabbed her friend's arm with a tight squeeze. "Of course! You still owe me eight dollars from poker night last week!"

Lena rolled her eyes and shouted out at her friend as she left the cover provided by the outcropping. "It was only five dollars, Williams, and you know it!"

Sarah laughed as she dodged around the rocky outcropping and up to help her fellow soldiers who had been caught by the IED. She kept low, but moved as fast as she could. Gunshots echoed around her still, but Sarah was focused on the three men lying prone on the desert sand. One was lying completely motionless, but the other two had curled into the fetal position and were groaning. The motionless man was first, and as Sarah drew close, she knew she was already too late for him. He'd caught the brunt of the explosion resulting in a several pieces of shrapnel catching him. Unfortunately it looked like one had caught the femoral artery and blood formed a large puddle beneath him.

Sarah used her hand to gently close the man's eyes before rushing to the other two men. They laid near each other, one cradling his arm, the other his head. "Sergeant Jones," Sarah called out to the first man. "Can you hear me?" She asked.

Jones groaned and nodded, his arm was stained red all the way down his sleeve, and so Sarah started there, cutting the sleeve off with a pair of medical scissors. There was a deep gash mid-way down his upper arm that was producing a lot of blood, but would heal just fine with treatment. "Stop being such a drama queen, Jones," Sarah teased. "You're going to live." Sarah quickly grabbed a roll of gauze and tightly packed and wrapped the wound before turning to Sergeant Donovan lying two feet away.

The man was cradling his head, and Sarah couldn't see any blood. She frowned as she gently pried his hands away from his face. "Donovan, where does it hurt?" she asked.

"My eyes!" he moaned. "Oh god, my eyes burn!"

Sarah sucked in a gasp as she saw that the man's eyes had indeed been injured. The best she could guess was that a red-hot piece of debris from the explosion had sliced across his face, catching his eyes, and cauterized the wound, all at the same time. "Hold still, Donovan, and keep your eyes closed." Sarah carefully applied some cooling cream that would help with the pain and keep the wound clean before packing and bandaging it. It was too early to say if his eyes would make it. "There, that'll get you to the hospital," Sarah gripped Donovan's arm and started to pull him to his feet, but at that moment another gunshot echoed from the surrounding hills and Sarah felt pain as her knees hit the dirt.

"Sarah?" Jones called out seeing her fall. He had already sat up and was moving toward them. "Sarah!" His voice seemed distant and echoey.

Sarah looked down to see that her hands had automatically come up to her abdomen… and they were covered in blood. "Oh," she mumbled before tipping over to the side. The pain was slowly spreading out from her middle until it was all she could feel. Her legs were numb, but her abdomen was on fire. She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed tightly. Her breaths were coming in short sharp pants even though in the back of her mind she knew that slow steady breaths would be better. She couldn't feel her legs at all now and it was making her panic. Had the bullet hit her spine? If so did it sever the spinal cord? Was it operable? Would she be able to walk again?

"Sarah! Can you hear me?" a voice called out to her. She could feel someone gripping her arm tightly. The smell of the arid desert filled her nostrils as she breathed in sharply. The distant sound of guns still echoed off the rocky hills. Sarah gasped in a breath and choked as blood filled her mouth, coming up from her lungs. "Sarah?"

However in between one second and the next all sounds stopped. The pain numbed. The blood in her mouth disappeared so she wasn't choking. "Sarah," a familiar voice called out to her. She struggled to turn her head, but a soft gloved hand gently cradled her cheek stopping the movement. A pale figure with flyaway blond hair hovered above her. "What's happened to you, precious?" His hand gently moved down from her cheek to rest on her chest between her breasts. "When I agreed to the terms with Death…" He trailed off. "I did not expect you so soon, dear."

Sarah tried to ask him what he was talking about, but all that came out was a soft gurgle and a cough. "Shh, shh…" he whispered. His hand pressed into her chest, not enough to hurt, but enough to feel a definite pressure. "I'll take care of it, precious. Just let me work."

With that he closed his eyes and bowed his head as began to chant softly in another language. The hand pressed into her chest glowed softly with a blue light. An electric tingle swept over her body and she stiffened. A moment later, a ghostly replica of herself floated out of her body, landed beside her, and solidified. However it was only a physical replica. The body double did not breathe at all, and her eyes were glazed over with a dead look.

Jareth stopped chanting and opened his eyes, but his hand remained on her chest. "This next part may hurt a little, precious. I apologize in advance." With that he resumed chanting, but this time a golden light escaped his palm. Sarah could feel the warmth it was giving off. It kept getting hotter and hotter though and soon it felt like she was burning up. Her entire body was aflame, but all she could do was scream and cry. Her body would not respond to her commands to move away. It felt like it lasted forever, but in reality the hot golden light probably only lasted a minute or two. When Jareth stopped chanting and slumped over her slightly, she felt no more pain. She could feel her legs again, and when she sat up, there was no more blood issuing from her middle, only what had stained her uniform.

"What did you do?" Sarah mumbled, finally looking around and noticing that everything had frozen in place.

"It's time to go, Sarah," Jareth said having finally recovered his breath from healing her. He held out an expectant hand. Sarah only stared silently at him. The Goblin King sighed and grabbed hold of her hand. "I move the stars for no one… except you, Sarah. I would give you a choice, my dear." He gripped her hand in his tightly as he spoke. "I have spoken with Death, and she has agreed that if you are amiable, you would come to live with me in the Goblin City as my Queen. Or… you may choose to end your life here and now, and move on to the next stage of existence."

"But…" Sarah stuttered as she processed this choice. "Can't I go back to my life? You've healed me. I could go back!"

Jareth smiled softly and shook his head. "That's not how it works, my dear. Your time on this world has come and gone. Would you defy Death? She becomes quite upset with those who defy her," he smirked a little as he said this.

Sarah considered this for a moment, a stone settling in her stomach at the thought of being dead and never seeing Toby or her parents again. "What… what would happen if I chose to go with Death?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Jareth shook his head and shrugged. "I do not know, my Queen. The only one who does is Death herself, and she is loath to divulge her secrets."

"I – I just don't…" she trailed off. Tears formed in her eyes, and her arms came up to wrap around herself. "I can't leave them behind," she said in a choked voice.

"But you must," Jareth replied gently. "Else you will wander the Earth in eternal unrest, and I would not wish that on you, my dear."

"Why?" she asked suddenly letting her arms drop to her sides as she looked up at him. "Why would you make a deal with Death for a second life for me with you?" Her voice was stronger as she said this.

The Goblin King's head bowed as he thought for a moment. Sarah studied him, observing how he was dressed in black leather armor and a starry tattered cloak. "I have never met another like you, Sarah. The ten hours you spent with me was not near enough. If you agree, I would have you spend another lifetime with me as my Queen."

Sarah stared at him, mouth slightly agape.

"Well, Sarah mine? What is your decision?"

"I – I choose…" Sarah murmured, glancing between him and her body double lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"I choose another life with you," she stated quietly, but confidently.

The Goblin King perked up at this, eyes wide and mouth hanging open slightly. "Come again?"

Sarah looked at him, meeting his pale blue eyes. "I choose you, Jareth."

He smiled and reached out a hand for her. Sarah took the proffered hand and allowed him to transport them away from the war zone.


	4. Zero fucks given.  Next please.

#97: "Zero fucks given. Next please."

Sarah sighed as she propped her head up on her arms. Another man sat down at her table. This one was rather thin, looked like he didn't get outside much, and was wearing a polka-dot bowtie. How had she gotten talked into this again? Oh, yeah, because her friend Kailey had begged her and begged her until she'd agreed just to shut her up. Kailey was eternally on dating sites and going to speed dating events. She went through boyfriends (and sometimes girlfriends) faster than Sarah went through a box of Kleenexes while watching _The Notebook_. Sarah was fine with Kailey's string of lovers, but the problem was she hated when her friend drug her along to these speed dating events too. "You need to get out more, Sarah!" she'd always say.

Sarah thought she got out just fine, thank you very much. She had only ever taken a couple of phone numbers from these events and only ever gone on one date, which had turned into a disaster when she found out that the guy was actually just looking for a third person to do a three way with. The guy currently in front of her was rambling on about his job in marketing, and wasn't that just fascinating? Sarah suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she gave the now formulaic answers to his questions. After five minutes was up, Sarah let her head thunk to the table. She could hear the next man sitting down across from her, and she really didn't even feel like trying. So instead she vaguely made a shooing motion in his direction and said, "Zero fucks given. Next please."

Sarah expected the man to protest or possibly just get up and leave. However instead she heard a familiar amused voice with a British accent say, "That's not very nice, precious."

Sarah's head jerked back up so fast she was sure she'd have whiplash. Across from her sat a tall thin man with pale hair and paler skin. However he didn't quite look the same as the last time she'd seen him… that last time in the strange broken room with staircases flying about every which way. He looked… more human now. His blond hair was styled into a messy kind of pompadour, and his eyes didn't have any dark markings around them. He did still have mismatched eyes though with one pupil bigger than the other. His clothing was also more human, but had a kind of rock star quality to it, a black Queen t-shirt was under a black sports coat and he had a couple of silver rings on his fingers. "Wha – what are you doing here?" she asked in a nervous whisper.

He grinned at her reaction and folded his hands in front of him on the table. "Finding you, of course," he answered.

"Finding… what the hell are you talking about?" Sarah could feel a knot forming in her stomach. She had no idea why the Goblin King was sitting in front of her acting like a regular human, and really she'd much rather not find out and instead run away… far away.

"My time as the Goblin King has finished, and since you were the last runner I had to win, I figured I'd see how you were?" He leaned closer. "How are you, Sarah?" he smiled a toothy grin.

Sarah leaned back in her seat and took a long sip of her red wine, draining the glass. "This isn't happening. You're not here. I've finally gone 'round the bend," she murmured.

The man across from her chuckled and leaned back as well. "I can assure you, I'm quite real, luv."

Sarah set her glass back down a little bit harder than she meant causing a couple of the other speed daters to glance her way for a second. She took in a deep breath and let it out again, counting to ten with her eyes closed. When she opened them again, he was still there watching her curiously. "Right. Why don't we start over," she said. "What are you doing here, Goblin King? Nobody wished away any children, did they?" Her voice was level, and she was quite proud of the way she sounded so in control.

"Not that I'm aware of," he replied. "Though I can't be sure as that's not my concern anymore."

"What do you mean, that's not your concern?"

"Like I said before, my tenure as the Goblin King has finished. I no longer hear the calls for the wished away."

"Your tenure? I thought king was an inherited position?" Sarah asked, her brows furrowing.

He shook his head. "Not in this case. I've been trapped as the Goblin King since 1814. The conditions holding me there have been lifted, and now I'm back in the human world. I do have to say that much has changed since last I was here," he glanced around the room.

"1814?! Like two hundred years ago?" Sarah asked incredulously. He nodded. "What the hell did you do to get trapped down there, assuming I believe you?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but the bell dinged signaling the end of five minutes. Another man came and eyed the Goblin King still sitting in his chair. "Time to change seats," he said in a high pitched voice. Sarah frowned at him. The guy looked like he was barely out of puberty.

The Goblin King hardly looked at him though before turning back to Sarah and holding out a pale long fingered hand. "Would you like to get out of here, luv?" he asked, standing from his seat.

Sarah glanced between the boy and the Goblin King. "Okay," she said quietly taking his hand.

"Hey! You can't do that!" the boy said, his voice cracking.

Sarah turned back to him and raised one eyebrow. "I'll do whatever I damn well please, thank you," she growled at him before turning her back and allowing her escort to lead her out of the building.

They came to a halt once they reached the street. Passersby frowned as they had to swerve around them on the sidewalk. Sarah sucked in a breath and let it back out as she looked at the man next to her. "What am I doing?" she murmured to herself.

"Why, I rather thought you were agreeing to accompany me for an outing," the Goblin King replied.

Sarah looked up at him then down at her hand still in his. "I don't even know your name," she said quietly.

His eyes widened as she said this. "Forgive me, my lady," he apologized. "I have not been a gentleman." She looked up at him in surprise. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Jareth Duncan Edgerton, third Earl of Wilton," he gave a short bow. "Or rather, former third Earl of Wilton, I suppose." He frowned as he thought of this. "The title most likely went on to my nephew after I disappeared."

Sarah stared at him for a moment until a bustling woman ran into her as she tried to get past them. "People are walking here!" the woman shouted at Sarah as she continued on her way. Sarah glared at the woman, but didn't reply as she turned back to Jareth. "Would you like to go to a coffeehouse? Little bit easier to talk there."

"Lead on, my lady," he smiled as he offered an arm for her to take.

Sarah linked her arm in his and led the way down the street to a small coffee shop full of people reading newspapers, chatting with friends, and working on laptops. She led the way up to the counter and ordered an Americano before gesturing for Jareth to place is own order. He glanced at the chalkboard showing the menu and ordered a simple black tea with lemon. Their order was out shortly and they found a place to sit. "So how long have you been back? And how did you find me?" Sarah asked before sipping at her coffee.

"You believe me then?" he asked with a grin.

She shrugged. "Let's just say that after running the Labyrinth, my mind is more open."

He blew on his tea a bit and took a sip before answering, "I've been back for about a week. I arrived from whence I'd been taken at my cousin's home in New York City. As you can imagine though, it changed quite a bit since I was there last. There were people walking all about it gawking at the various rooms."

Sarah nodded. "Probably tourists. If your cousin's home was a nice place I'm guessing some historical society or another preserved it and turned it into a tourist destination."

"Tourist?" he gave her a curious look.

"Erm… people who go on vacation to see popular or interesting places."

"Ah, well then yes, I'm guessing that is what happened. I managed to find this clothing in a dressing room of sorts. I stole it and started looking for you."

Sarah snorted into her coffee. "You stole someone's clothes?"

"What else was I to do?" he shrugged. "It was obvious that I was well beyond the time I had come to the Labyrinth. I knew I would be, and that I would have to adjust quickly or be discovered as a man out of time."

"Okay, okay… I guess," Sarah conceded. "But how did you find me? I mean New York is huge, and you're super lucky you were already in the same city as me in the first place."

Jareth nodded. "I'd call it fate, but I'm skeptical that it exists. I found you through the left over magics left to me from the Labyrinth. I was its master for nigh on two hundred years. I think I deserve to keep some of the magic I learned!" He grinned as he said this.

Sarah smiled as well. "So what are you going to do now? You've made it back, you've found me… what will you do next?"

The former Goblin King frowned and looked down into his tea. "I hadn't quite thought that far ahead yet."

"Well, where are you staying?"

"There's a shelter for people without homes a few miles from here," he shrugged. "It's where I've been staying for the past few nights."

Sarah gripped her coffee cup tighter, not believing that she was thinking about doing what she was going to do next. "Look, I've got a spare room if you want. I mean just until you can get on your feet." She looked up to gauge his reaction. His eyes were wide in surprise, and there was not a trace of derision as she might have expected had he still been Goblin King. "I imagine that being thrust into a world that you know little about would be rather difficult, so… if you wanted…" She trailed off.

"I was not asking for your help, Sarah," he stated simply, fiddling with his teacup.

"No, but I'm offering it."

Jareth took another sip of his tea, and put his cup back down. "Then I would be a fool to reject such an offer," he looked up at her.

"Good," she felt as though a weight had been lifted off her with his acceptance. There were butterflies in her stomach now though. What was she thinking, offering to house and feed the Goblin King?! But no… he wasn't the Goblin King anymore… merely a man, a man out of time who needed her help. "I guess we'll need to go shopping for you then," she stated firmly, trying to convince both herself and the former king in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Author's Note:** I love this one and the idea that the position of Goblin King is not something Jareth inherited! I'm actually thinking about continuing it with it's own story outside of the 5 Word Prompts. Would pretty much entirely take place in the Aboveground following Jareth and Sarah as he re-acclimates to the human world. Would need to get some tension of some sort in there though... What do you all think?


End file.
